After Altrincham suffered a second consecutive relegation last Saturday, the board released a message to the supporters, saying that they “hold [their] hands up and apologise for the mistakes made.”
Yet, a little over halfway through and for the rest of the article, they go on to ask supporters for money in an initiative called the Patrons Scheme to help with the club’s finances, after its bleak termination from the National League North.
“It really is a vital fund-raiser for the club,” it goes on to say, before explaining that those who sign up would be “offering invaluable support” to Altrincham F.C.
This type of insensitivity is not the first from the club. A day after the Robins were relegated, the side’s official website released an article entitled ‘Alty Ups and Downs’, detailing every promotion and relegation in the past last twenty years, trivialising the disastrous two seasons the club has undergone.
Last month, on the day of the protest against Chairman Grahame Rowley, the match-programme had an opinion piece written by a chosen supporter, who felt that the 13 years the club had in the National League was a bonus anyway, and that Altrincham is a club more suitable for a lower-leagued position.
It was during this protest that the two social media coordinators, who work the club’s official Twitter account voluntarily, were locked out by an unknown source because they acknowledged that the protest was taking place.
After many attempts, the club must realise that to quell the supporters through transparent propaganda and reckless decisions only infuriates them further.
Perhaps, it could be argued, the problem lies with a fundamental difference of opinion between the majority of supporters and the club’s hierarchy about what a successful football club should represent.
The question is whether the board and chairman see Altrincham as mostly a family-fun-day-out, with fundraisers, flocks of children and lunchtime snacks – or do they, like the supporters, qualify the club’s success as winning football matches and lifting trophies?
Yes, Altrincham are going through the worst period in its proud and illustrious 114-year history, yet it’s not purely the league position or the double relegation that is wholly driving supporters away.
It is, as well, the absence of ambition from the club, doubled with a complete lack of respect towards the supporters who are in utter turmoil.
It’s clear that both the board and Rowley never wanted the club in such an abysmal state, however they need do more than just release ill-judged messages and execute tactless, reactionary manoeuvres to steady the sinking ship of Altrincham.
Jacque Talbot 